Company, Party of 16? No?
by LillyBaaaka
Summary: Harriet had only just recently begun to 'travel' as she later called it. She wasn't sure where she was going, or how she was getting there, but she was sure she wasn't home. An unfinished tale told in brief. Connected to the AUD universe.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Harriet had only just recently begun to 'travel' as she later called it. She wasn't sure where she was going, or how she was getting there, but she was sure she wasn't home. An unfinished tale of the Hobbit in brief, generally told in 100 to 300 word snippets. Roughly connected to the AUD universe.

To Cassandra, for voluntarily poking holes in my Thesis and helping me improve my arguments.

Prompt: Harriet literally runs into Thorin and Company screaming TROLLS! Must be less than 10,000 words all told with each chapter a min of 100 words but less than 300 words.

AN1: This story follows the books, and the book's rather abrupt ending, not the movies.

AN2: The Summary is important. Read it again =)

AN3: AUD is not abandoned. I actually have several chapters written but just haven't had time to edit them. Hopefully they will be posted by the Hols.

* * *

"There they sat glum and wet and muttering, while Oin and Gloin went on trying to light the fire, quarreling about it…"

\- The Hobbit, Chapter II: Roast Mutton

Bilbo was silently lamenting the fact that adventures were not all pony-rides in May sunshine. And lament he should, considering what was coming.

Then, by some stroke of luck, Balin, ever the look out man, noticed a light. "Look, over there, a light!"

The whole company looked toward the densely forested hill at which he was pointing. Just in the distance, there was, indeed, a light, flickering like fire or torches.

As they continued to watch, they also noticed that there appeared to be something moving, crossing in and out of the path of the light, and moving fast.

"What is it?"

"Doesn't matter. Prepare yourselves!"

The figure, for it was indeed a person, came flying out of the brush. Then, taking notice of them, stopped abruptly, arms flinging wildly about to maintain balance.

It was a woman, nay a girl. It had to be, given how young she appeared.

"Holy Merlin," she whispered.

The dwarves, still armed and ready, stared, occasionally sharing confused and uncertain glances between them.

Then, Thorin stepped forward. "Who are you?" he commanded.

The girl looked briefly over her shoulder, then came to some sort of decision. Hitching her satchel further up her shoulder, she stated, in a mildly hysterical voice, "Look, no time. There are monsters, just over that hill. You should run." And with that, she did exactly as she suggested, cutting quickly to the company's left, deep into the underbrush.

Dwalin looked to Thorin, ready to take action, "Should we follow?"

"No, something sent her this way; we prepare for what lies ahead." So saying, he unsheathed his sword and readied his shield.


	2. Chapter 2

"You are come to the very edge of the Wild, as some of you may know. Hidden somewhere ahead of us is the fair valley of Rivendell where Elrond lives in the Last Homely House."

\- The Hobbit, Chapter III: A Short Rest

* * *

The idea of a warm, safe place to rest appealed to Bilbo. And in Rivendell no less! Elves, he would finally get to meet with elves once more, in their own home no less.

Of course, whether or not the dwarfs were as excited as he by the prospect was less certain. Dwarves were not impressed by elves and it was highly possible that the sentiment was returned.

For now, he had to apply himself to the task at hand: getting to Rivendell. There were no trees or valleys or hills to break the ground in front of them, yet onward they travelled.

Morning passed, then the afternoon came and went and still they travelled, up, up the vast slope to the feet of the nearest mountain.

Bilbo looked up, briefly, to judge how much light remained. High above, a hawk soared. He imagined what the hawk must think of them, what tiny, insignificant specks they must be from so high. He shortly considered the idea that it was the same hawk he noted in the sky not several hours prior, but just as shortly discarded the idea.

Then, lo! A trail, lined in white stone, opened up before them, and, even with Gandalf's aid, it took all of his attention to stay the course.

The hawk was forgotten.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

"Here it is at last!" he called, and the others gathered round him and looked over the edge…Soon Bilbo caught glimpses of them as the darkness deepened. He loved elves, though he seldom met them; but he was a little frightened of them too."

\- The Hobbit, Chapter III: A Short Rest

* * *

Harriet settled in to wait. She did not know where this merry band of malcontents was headed but they had survived the beasts she'd had no intention of being dinner for. Wherever they were headed, as long as it was away from the wilds of a land with which she was wholly unfamiliar, she was content to follow from a-high.

Slowly, the party picked their way across the wilderness, towards the mountains. She was glad she had wings, she did not imagine remaining a-horse that long on such terrain was comfortable in the least.

When they halted briefly to consider the path before them, Harriet did not think it significant. Until of course, she began to notice something moving through the trees, a number of somethings, large but obviously light footed, moving through the forest below.

'At last! People!'

But who where these new comers? Where they friend or foe? If they did not know her and she did not know them, could they be either?

'There! Civilization!' Or what had to pass for civilization, nestled in a valley, at once both majestic and serene.

She observed from up high as the company dismounted and followed the lead of a tall being down what must have been a path to the narrow bridge below, crossing one by one, each leading a pony.

Now, should she trust these tall, singing, creatures? Or were they just as armed and determined as their shorter, hairier guests, for guests they had to be.


	4. Chapter 4

"Elrond, the master of the house was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer."

\- The Hobbit, Chapter III: A Short Rest

* * *

By the fifth day of observing, Harriet had come to several conclusions. First, the shorter people were definitely guests. They simply did not fit in with the cleanliness, the natural beauty of the city within which they were currently visiting.

Second, she found all the singing to be mildly annoying. As a hawk, her hearing was rather good and she was rather tired of it all.

Third, she was quite certain these new creatures, tall in form, strong in stature, and light of foot, were of a wholly different race than the group she was following. Likewise, she was now certain the group she was following was composed of several different races, one of which felt vaguely of magic. However, in a way that she couldn't quite put her finger on, the magic wasn't right, _he_ wasn't quite right.

Sure, they all seemed friendly enough from afar but she had yet to meet any of them properly.

Gathering her courage, she flew in close, and gracefully took up a familiar perch on a familiar wooden rail in an increasingly familiar room in an increasingly familiar place.

"I see you have returned, friend." Elrond moved with grace on light feet toward the hawk that had taken to resting on the veranda of his study. Quietly, he offered the bird a thin strip of meat _he_ had taken to keeping in a bowl by his desk. "Tell me, will you stay long here?"

Harriet didn't understand a word the tall, noble looking, pointy eared man was telling her but when he gently began running his fingers through her feathers, she leaned into the touch.

"I can only wonder at your presence amongst us but you are welcome to rest well while you are here."

The snack certainly helped.


	5. Chapter 5

"Even the good plans of wise wizards like Gandalf and of good friends like Elrond go astray sometimes when you are off on dangerous adventures over the Edge of the Wild; and Gandalf was a wise enough wizard to know it."

\- The Hobbit, Chapter IV: Over Hill and Under Hill

* * *

The small company that Harriet had initially followed left not ten days later, clearly in high spirits.

Harriet, fighting the effects of remaining in her animagus form for so long, grudgingly left her familiar perch, and the careful attentions of her caretaker, in the hopes of finding more humans, and, hopefully, a less wild magic, a magic less attuned to nature, for magic it was that she felt dwelling in this place, although it too was slightly not right, or as right as magic could ever truly be.

The group of shorter beings, and one tall one, headed toward the great tall mountains with lonely peaks with a determination that Harriet had no way of understanding.

For days, she followed, only stopping to rest at night, now and then returning to her original self, setting wards and pitching a tent miles away to mentally recollect her sense of self.

Eventually, this was no longer feasible, as the company passed higher and higher into the mountains, where paths were narrow and steep and the drop between was steeper.

The winds picked up and it was all that Harriet could do to stay aloft in the oncoming storm. She would have to go higher, try to rise above the winds, or failing that, take shelter in one of the many nooks and cracks further down the mountain.

She would just have to find them later. That was of course, after she figured out how to avoid the rock throwing stone giants that were coming into her view, miles out.

Yes, she would definitely have to pick up their trail later.


	6. Chapter 6

"We have gone miles and miles, and come right down through the heart of the mountains, and are now on the other side – quite a short cut."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VI: Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire

* * *

'Where _ARE_ they?! Merlin _bless_ , how could she not find them? Her eyes were some of the best in the entirety of the animal kingdom, muggle and magical alike! She had searched for days now, for miles, further and further a field, and still, _nothing_.

Until there was something, several days later, an uproar of snarls and howling and yelping. Though she could not see the trouble, she knew it was indeed trouble.

She followed the noise, wondering if the Company, for now they had been named thus in her mind, were at the other end of those snarls.

Would she help them if they were?


	7. Chapter 7

"The goblins hated the eagles and feared them, but could not reach their lofty seats, or drive them from the mountains. Tonight the Lord of Eagles was filled with curiosity to know what was afoot; so he summoned many other eagles to him, and they flew away from the mountains, and slowly circling ever round and round they came down, down, down…"

\- The Hobbit, chapter VI: Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire

* * *

"Merlin's soggy – are those _eagles_?'

Harriet had circled around to further observe the commotion, only to come across a sight she most certainly did not expect: giant eagles, circling lower and lower into the fray.

Of course, she was still too far off to observe what was at the center of all the commotion, but she, for self-preservation's sake, was planning on keeping her distance.

Then the fire started, leaping merrily from tree to tree with a voraciousness that told of a dry summer and of even drier tender. There was yelling and screaming, and Harriet briefly considered temporarily fleeing the area, her bird self 's natural instincts near overriding her more rational mind.

But then the eagles were swooping, picking up … tiny creatures she could just make out, others were screeching, clearly attacking the source of the howls below them.

If it was indeed the Company that the eagles were rescuing, it seemed they had a great deal of friends of note.

'Color me impressed.'

Finally overcoming the hawk's desire to flee the raging fire, Harriet settled into following the great eagles as they flew away, taking the long route around, the not quite rightness of the wizard like a homing beacon to her senses.


	8. Chapter 8

"… cropping out of the ground, right in the path of the stream which looped itself about it, was a great rock, almost a hill of stone, like a last outpost of the distant mountains, or a huge piece cast miles into the plain by some giant among giants."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

They bathed in the river, which was shallow and clear and rocky at the ford. When they had dried in the sun, they were refreshed, if still sore and hungry.

Bilbo by now was beyond disillusioned on the notion of adventures. First trolls, then goblins and wargs, then EAGLES, which had been friendly but terrifying nonetheless, now a trek through the forest with no ponies or provisions.

He wanted his hobbit hole.

He also wanted Gandalf to stop speaking in riddles.

"Who called the Carrock the Carrock? How does he know it?" It was clear Gandalf was not speaking of the Eagles (they deserved the capitalization) for they had all heard the words the great creatures had spoken.

"The Somebody that I spoke of! Now, you must be careful and polite when I introduce you, two by two I think. Do _not_ annoy him."

"Don't annoy _who_ wizard?" grouched Thorin.

Gandalf began to sound cross. "If you must know more, his name is Beorn."

Overhead, a hawk lazily circled the Company.

Bilbo, focused as he was on his hunger and the journey before him, had no reason to look up.


	9. Chapter 9

"He changes his skin: sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard … He is not the sort of person to ask questions of. At any rate he is under no enchantment but his own."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Harriet, tired and doing her best to avoid the giant eagles – EAGLES – struggling once more to maintain her sense of self, circled around the great outcropping of rock and on ahead of the Company in the early morning light.

'Wait, is that a house? In the middle of the wild?'

Unfortunately or fortunately, curiosity overrode her sense of self-preservation, again.

She wanted to investigate but it had been days since her last shift out of her animagus form, she needed to change back, and the house, if it was empty, would prove useful to that end.

'There's only one way to find out.'

There was a wooden gate, high and broad, with gardens and a cluster of well built, sturdy, wooden buildings. Soon, she was swooping low and alighted on a branch just outside of the clearly inhabited property.

She had only been resting for a few minutes when a large, broad shouldered man with a respectable beard came into view.

At first, she did not suspect that her tree and her perch were his objective. But then, very clearly, he stated, "Come, my young friend, that is no place to rest. There is bread, cream, and honey to fill you, and a soft place to rest."

Harriet looked at him. It was the first time she had understood a word that was spoken in this new, vast land.

"Come, how long has it been since you were able to rest in your own form?"

Wait, what?

Well, then, that certainly changed things. She deliberated, then, taking a leap of faith, stepped off from the tree, transforming as she fell, landing quietly on her feet.

Slowly standing, she tucked an errant curl behind her ear, and blinked owlishly at the bear of a man standing, smiling, before her.

"Welcome."


	10. Chapter 10

"Bilbo and the dwarves had now plenty to think about, and they asked no more questions. They still had a long way to walk before them."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

He smiled. Harriet was not sure what to feel.

Relief after weeks of being lost and unable to communicate, sadness at realizing just how lonely she was, happiness at the prospect of real food, wariness toward the unknown, tiredness from the long journey, sad by the idea that she was no longer anywhere _near_ England, tormented by all the time she had to consider the war and all that she had lost. She was all of these but most of all, she was confused.

She curtsied, hesitantly, uncertain with how to properly introduce herself.

"There now little bird, don't be afraid. Come, there is food and drink for you." And so, still smiling, he turned slightly, keeping her in sight, the invitation clear.

Harriet briefly toyed with the ends of a stray piece of curly black hair. 'It has to be quite wild now…' She hesitantly came alongside the large man and peered up at him through long lashes.

He quietly led her through a long, low wooden house and showed her to a seat at a table on a sort of veranda.

He disappeared briefly, reappearing with food, actual, human food, and she realized that she was also hungry in a way that she had never quite experienced before.

The man placed the food in front of her and quietly took a seat.

Harriet turned to look at him again, still uncertain if she was welcome to help herself.

He only smiled and nodded his head.

Harriet ate. The big man continued to smile. And Harriet began to relax.


	11. Chapter 11

"Some horses, very sleek and well-groomed, trotted up across the grass and looked at them intently with very intelligent faces; then off they galloped to the buildings. "They have gone to tell him of the arrival of strangers," said Gandalf."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Bilbo was not sure how he felt, first there were the large bees, then there were the horses, certain as he was of their intelligence. Now, there was a great hulking, bearded man, with great bare arms and legs with knotted muscles, leaning ever so casually on a large axe.

The horses seemed to speak to him as he regarded them with a serious expression.

"Ah, here they are! They don't look dangerous, you can be off!" He laughed a great laugh that made Bilbo even more uncertain.

At least he had put down the axe.

But the merriness was soon lost as the man gruffly asked, "who are you and what do you want?"

'Wait but didn't Gandalf say that he knew him?' Bilbo, already nervous, was very close to panicking.

The great man walked toward them such that he towered even over Gandalf.

"I am Gandalf."

"Never heard of him."

Bilbo almost fainted.


	12. Chapter 12

"Following him they found themselves in a wide hall with a fireplace in the middle… They passed through this dim hall, lit only by the fire and the hole above it, and came through another smaller door into a sort of veranda propped on wooden posts made of single tree trunks."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Full, and still alive after the meal, Harriet had dazedly followed the bear of man into one of the wings of the great home where he led her to a small nest of straw and blankets.

Harriet, still taking in the fact that she was full and still alive, had curled into a little ball and fallen asleep nearly as her head touched the ground, only briefly noting the warm blanket that was laid atop of her.

Harriet slept, and slept, and for the first time in many nights, did not dream.

But then there were voices, loud voices, and slowly she came to. Gaining her bearings and chiding herself for falling asleep in an unknown bed, in an unknown house, in an unknown land with an unknown man, she checked for her essentials.

Dirty and torn clothing, check. Bottomless satchel, check. Wand inside satchel? Check. Moke skin pouch? Check. Hair brush? 'O, whe~re is my hairbrush?' She really needed that hairbrush…

'Right. Priorities. I hear voices.' Because that didn't sound like she was losing her mind…

But she could indeed hear voices. One she was certain belonged to the small giant that had offered her food and housing. Yet, she couldn't make out what he was saying. She could hear him clearly, and some others speaking indistinctly, but she couldn't understand what he was saying.

'But how…' Maybe he was speaking the native tongue now, instead of English?

Deciding the only way to find out was to go out there herself and investigate, she decided to dig around for that hairbrush. First impressions, after all, were important.

It took sometime to wrangle the mess into some semblance of order but she managed, even as more voices joined the first few and her host began to seem impatient.

Once more, she hesitated. Dare she interrupt?

* * *

Credit where credit is due to Veggietales (and of course to Tolkien).


	13. Chapter 13

"A very good tale!" said he. "The best I have heard for a good while. If all beggars could tell such a good one, they might find me kinder. You may be making it all up, of course, but you deserve a supper for the story all the same. Let's have something to eat!"

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

They entered what appeared to be the central hall, the one with the fireplace.

The bear named Beorn clapped his hands and in trotted four ponies and several large dogs. He said something to them in a queer language like animal noises turned into talk.

The animals went out again and soon returned with torches in their mouths for the brackets on the wall. More dogs quickly got out boards and trestles form the side walls and set them near the fire. Then, in came a ram and several sheep bearing cloth for the table and bowls and platters for food and drink.

Soon they were all seated at Beorn's table. Beorn sat in his large black chair by the door and the Company sat on wide, low seated benches and polished logs at a table comfortably low enough even for a hobbit. Yet, there was one extra, one extra log stool placed to Beorn's left. Who ever was it for?

Beorn once more clapped his hands and spoke in that strange tongue to one of the dogs in the hall. Then he bade them eat supper and so they did.

After five minutes, the dog returned and following him in a way that reminded Bilbo of a lost puppy, was a slip of a girl, no more than a foot taller than Thorin himself, with messy hair, and the lean, weary look of one who did not quite expect to find a table full of food upon which to feast, much less a hobbit, a wizard, and 13 dwarrows for company.

To Bilbo, and perhaps a few others, a very few, she seemed vaguely familiar.


	14. Chapter 14

"There they had a supper, or a dinner, such as they had not had since they left the Last Homely House in the West … All the time they ate, Beorn in his deep rolling voice told tales of the wild lands on this side of the mountains, and especially of the dark and dangerous wood, that lay outstretched far to the North and South."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Harriet didn't know what to think.

There, gathered before her was the Company, all fifteen of them, seated at a table that she did not remember seeing when she first arrived, all of whom were staring at her.

Well, at the very least, she was glad she had done something about her hair.

Beorn gestured to the only empty place at the table, "Sit. Eat. Little birds should not be so thin."

Harriet smiled in spite of her wariness and quietly sat next to the large man.

The Company continued to stare, until her host, rather gruffly said something to them in that language she couldn't understand.

They began to eat with fervor, and Harriet, conscious of both her audience and her look, hesitantly reached for food.

The more she watched, however, the more she began to worry there would be no food left to reach for.

She looked, rather amazed at the rate the food was disappearing, at their host, who only smiled and began separating food out from the feast, deliberately placing it in front of her with a stern look at the others.

All told, Harriet was actually rather impressed at how they managed to stuff their maws and stare at her at the same time.

Beorn began to speak in his deep, vibrating voice, and his guests began to listen, grunting here and there in reply, and Harriet once more reveled in the feeling of being full and lulled to the brink of sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

"The dwarves listened and shook their beards… when dinner was over they began to tell tales of their own, but Beorn seemed to be growing drowsy and paid little heed to them."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Bilbo, and dare he say the Company, including Gandalf, did not know what to think of the thin girl currently nodding off at Beorn's left. She had clearly been just as hungry as the Company, for she had eaten all of the food Beorn had so clearly marked as hers. She therefore could not have been a regular inhabitant of his house. So who was she?

And the way she looked so lost! After a fashion, Bilbo felt he understood for he had begun to feel the same in those days just after he had left the Shire. To be honest, he felt the same way still. The tales that the dwarves now told, of gold and silver and jewels – he simply couldn't relate.

Nor could Beorn apparently.

Soon he was rising up and the movement caused the girl to stir. She blinked somewhat dazedly before looking quickly toward their host, as if she was afraid she had lost him.

Beorn twittered in that same queer language of animal speech, which the girl seemed to understand. Then she, too, rose from the table and, he presumed, returned to whence she had come.

It was not too much later that Bilbo himself sought out a bed on the raised platforms to the side of the hall, wondering still why she seemed so familiar.


	16. Chapter 16

It was full morning when he awoke. One of the dwarves had fallen over him in the shadows where he lay, and had rolled down with a bump from the platform on to the floor. It was Bofur … "Get up lazybones," he said, "or there will be no breakfast left for you."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Harriet, well rested and awake long before she heard the first of the other guests stir, contemplated whether she dare draw her wand from her travel satchel. O, there was magic here, she was sure. It was in the air, in the earth, deeply woven into the land over which she had passed. It had saturated the Valley in which she had rested for several weeks, it followed the man she was sure was some form of wizard around like a clinging cloud of mysticism.

But it wasn't her magic and it didn't have the feel of magic from home.

'Where is home anyway? Will I ever get back? How did I even get here?!'

She was close to tears, sniffling and wallowing in a way she hadn't let herself since her initial panic at finding herself almost someone else's dinner.

In the main hall, the Company continued to stir, there were more voices, calling to each other softly, speaking in their rough tongue in a cadence she couldn't follow.

Her stomach growled. Still, she wallowed.

Her stomach growled again, and, not feeling up to facing the strangers in the Hall, fled through the window, wings flapping quietly.


	17. Chapter 17

"Where is Gandalf?" asked Bilbo, moving off to find something to eat as quick as he could. "O! out and about somewhere," they told him. But he saw no sign of the wizard all that day until the evening."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Harriet, belly full once more, rested on a tree in one of the gardens. It was nearing dusk and she was contemplating how it came to be that she could understand her host but not his guests and whether or not they would be able to understand her.

As luck would have it, as if it was ever a matter of pure luck, Gandalf was wondering something of the same.

"Ah, there you are. Well, at least, I am mostly certain it was you who graced us with your presence last night."

Harriet stared. It may as well have been gibberish. 'Well, that solidifies the answer to that question.'

The wizard, aware only that he had the bird's full attention, tried again before lighting a pipe and taking a seat on a nearby stump.

"Hmmph, well, perhaps you do not understand the languages of Man. Let me try a few others."

Harriet, acknowledging that he was changing the cadence of his sounds, and perhaps trying to find another way to communicate with her, found herself grateful for his persistence.

After a time, he came to a stop, puffing rings of smoke as he sat.

"No, well, it seems we are at an impasse." More rings of smoke, this time with a little ship passing through.

"No, I am certain you are the same as Beorn: a skin changer."

After several minutes, Harriet, certain that her host did not seem to be the type to invite hostiles into his house, and having observed how well the group of mixed races tolerated each other, made a decision and changed where she sat. Perched on the tree as she was, head tilted, it was almost hard to tell were the bird stopped and the human began.

"Ah! There we have it." He smiled at her. "And how are you this fine evening?"


	18. Chapter 18

"Just before sunset he walked into the hall, where the hobbit and the dwarves were having supper … Of Beorn they had seen and heard nothing since the night before, and they were getting puzzled."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Bilbo was the first to notice the arrival of the wizard but not the first to notice his petite shadow.

"Well then if it isn't our quiet friend!" said Bofur. 'The one from the clearing!' he said to himself.

"Friend, what friend?" said Gloin.

"The girl! She's back!"

Silence descended upon the Hall. Then Thorin asked, "Well Gandalf, who is she?"

"Aside from a name, I actually have don't know," he admitted jovially enough. "She doesn't seem to speak any language that I am familiar with and I am familiar with most." He paused, almost theatrically.

Agitated, Thorin asked, "What, then, is her name?"

"Har-E-et, or so I think it is. The sounds are quite new to me."

The girl, following the conversation, looked back and forth between Gandalf and Thorin.

"This, Har-E-et, is Thorin," and Gandalf proceeded to put a name to each face and Harriet endeavored to memorize the strange sounds, no matter how futile the effort was.

When the wizard was done, she nodded her head once and once again took up her spot next to Beorn's chair at the table. What was left of supper was waiting.


	19. Chapter 19

"The hobbit felt quite crushed, and as there seemed nothing else to do he did go to bed … still puzzling his little head about Beorn, till he dreamed a dream of hundreds of black bears dancing slow heavy dances round and round in the moonlight in the courtyard."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Harriet was rather undecided on whether she liked the Company. For the most part, they were dirty, hairy fellows, some with gruff voices, others with naught but laughter in their mien. This time, under Gand-elf the Wizard's almost disapproving gaze, they readily placed more than enough food in front of her and she savored every bite as they went back to speaking with each other.

Eventually, after supper was finished, the "du-war-f-z" as Gan-delf called them began to sing. They had deep, emotive voices that drew her in, even if she didn't understand a word of what they were saying.

Harriet sat, knees folded to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees, chin resting atop of them. She imagined they told stories about places she had never heard of, songs of their homeland, and she imagined what sort of place had produced such a people as they.

She never noticed how the fire danced, literally, so engrossed was she in her imaginings.

Then she noticed that the "ho-bit" with the hairy feet began to nod off and Harriet remembered how late it actually was. She stood, waved a shy good night to her host's other guests, and retired for the evening.

She never noticed how the figures in the fire became indistinct in the wake of her departure or Gand-elf's considering gaze following her out the Hall.


	20. Chapter 20

Next morning they were all wakened by Beorn himself. "So here you all are still!" he said. He picked up the hobbit and laughed: "Not eaten by Wargs or goblins or wicked bears yet I see."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

"It was a good story, that of yours," said Beorn, "but I like it still better now I am sure it is true. If you lived near the edge of Mirkwood, you would take the word of no one that you did not know as well as your brother or better."

"And what did you find?" asked Gandalf.

"Come and see!" said Beorn, leading the Company outside.

There on a pike, was a head of a goblin, and there pinned to a tree just beyond, a warg skin.

Beorn was a fierce enemy indeed. But now he was their friend, and Gandalf thought it wise to tell him their whole story and the reason for their journey, so that they could get the most help he could offer.

In the end, Beorn offered them ponies, and a horse for Gandalf, for their journey to the forest and food to last them for weeks with care. Nuts, flour, dried fruits, and pots of honey – it was more than they had expected or had before.

Then Gandalf asked another question, "and what of your friend? Will she not come to breakfast this morning?"

"The little birdy is off to explore. She will return when she is ready."

And with that he said no more.


	21. Chapter 21

"All that morning they were busy with preparations. Soon after midday they ate with Beorn for the last time, and after the meal they mounted the steed he was lending them, and bidding him many farewells they rode off through his gate at a good pace."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Harriet watched the Company leave from a perch on high. Should she continue to follow them? Or should she stay where she was, where she was clearly welcome and would be well fed? Would they lead her to more information? To a path home? Or would they lead her further into the wild as they had done the last time they had left a safe haven?

Simply put, she just didn't know.

At least now that she knew where her host, whose name she had learned was 'Bay-orn', resided, if she left, she knew that she could find it again, just like should could find the 'el-vzz' again if she chose.

But did she want to leave? Did she want to go back, where? – to the aftermath of war, to face the unmitigated loss of friends and family… Here, she had the chance to be just Harriet, to start a new life, fresh.

She changed her form and took to walking Bay-orn's gardens. Towards late afternoon, Bay-orn found her. "You are thinking hard, little birdy. Why do you wish to follow them?"

Harriet was not quick to answer. Eventually, she settle for: "I am lost."

"By following them, you shall find your way? It is not a home that you shall find at the end of their journey, for little birdies are not meant to dwell underground."

Harriet's eyes widened. 'They lived underground? But why?'

"But, the tall one, he looks like me, are there more of them? More of me?"

"Ah, little birdy. They are not like you and me. Men are strange, Wizards are stranger; they do not understand us."

"Us?"

"Us! We are the same you and I! Shifters of skin!" Beorn laughed, then sobered and placed a large hand on Harriet's head. "You are young little birdy, one day you will not be so lost."

Harriet worried her lip. Perhaps this was why she could understand him? He too was an animagus, a shape shifter? Was his language like parseltongue? Is that why she understood? "Perhaps, later, when I learn to understand them, we can find them again? The Men? I… I want to try, to see…"


	22. Chapter 22

"… you wouldn't get a safe path even then. There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go."

\- The Hobbit, chapter VII: Queer Lodgings

* * *

Us. It was a word simultaneously comforting and unnerving. What was expected when he said "us?" Did he expect anything? Did she expect anything? Did it matter?

Harriet had been all too honest when she had stated she was lost. She was firmly out of her depth. Give her running, give her battle, give her hunger - she knew how to deal with those things, or well, at least she knew how to act when given those situations.

But this? On top of everything else?

'One step at a time.'

First, she had to settle a few things that finding herself in this wild land had helped her avoid. Really, when you just showed up somewhere with very little warning, after years of gearing for and fighting a war, instincts kicked in, survival mode took over, and other priorities asserted themselves. But now? Now that she had a warm place to sleep, a full belly, relative safety, and an 'us'? Now those priorities were shifting. Now, they _had_ to shift or risk permanent issues further down the road.

Now, she ... needed to embrace her grief. Intellectually, she knew she had to as avoiding for much longer could result in ... consequences. Yet with years of loss and a very sudden victory after a very bloody final battle meant there was plenty of it to wad through.

Harriet remembered and cried and despaired and cried some more for what had been lost, for suddenly having an 'us' to think about that wasn't the 'us' she had spent... years... months... days?... There were so many 'us' relationships lost to really keep track, all of them suddenly gone (would she get them back? were they there to get back to?).

The days passed and Beorn allowed her to mourn for all that she never told him what she had lost or where she had come from or why she couldn't stop crying.


	23. Chapter 23

AN: Expect shorter chapters moving forward.

* * *

"Very great indeed was the commotion among all things with wings that dwelt on the borders of the Desolation of the Dragon. The air was filled with circling flocks … "Smaug is dead!" … Beorn had heard it in his wooden house."

\- The Hobbit, Chapter XIV: Fire and Water

* * *

The days had taken their toll on Harriet. She was tired, so tired. Lost, so lost.

Yet now that she was quietly working through her grief in Beorn's great gardens, drinking in the peace of his house, the company of him and his animal friends, she also felt refreshed. She had not worked through everything, that would take more time and perhaps professional assistance, but for now she was coping.

She was also gaining weight; a year and some change on the run with limited resources certainly took its toll on her already slim figure.

Then, one day, the peace was disturbed, and Harriet was hard pressed to understand the wonderment, the celebratory tones, and the anxiety all mixed into the calls coming from the birds of the forest and beyond.

'What is a Smog?' For it was clear they were not commenting on air quality.

Harriet meandered her way back to the house and found Beorn standing by the wood pile near the chopping block on the great stump. "Beorn? What is a Smog?"

Beorn looked caught between a smile and a grimace. "Smaug is a plight upon the lands to the east of the great forest."

"But what is he? Why do the birds sing?"

"He was a dragon and long did he hold a reign of terror."

A dragon? They had dragons here?

Beorn looked toward the sky, perhaps considering the implications of the news that the birds brought. "His passing is perhaps a sign that our previous guests were successful in their journey."

The dwarves were out to kill a dragon? Whatever for?


	24. Chapter 24

"For he too had not forgotten the legend of the Wealth of Thror. So it was that Bard's messengers found him now marching with many spearmen and bowmen."

\- The Hobbit, Chapter XIV: Fire and Water

* * *

Bilbo couldn't understand a word the bird was trying to tell him. 'O, if only we had Beorn's skill!' he thought, but alas they did not. Since they had abandoned the great halls of Thorin's ancestors the day prior, there was once more a great many things that they did not have. Bilbo was long resigned to the fact that this seemed to be a theme of this particular adventure. In fact, he resolved, if he ever ventured on another such journey outside of his hobbit hole, he would ensure that it was not ever again.

The bird, a thrush, eventually left, only to return a scant few minutes later with a balding, near blind, clearly elderly raven.

"I am Roac, son of Carc. Behold! The birds are gathering back again, for Smaug is dead!"

"Dead? Dead!" the dwarves cried. "Then the treasure is ours! We have worried since leaving the halls that he may come to find us – it was all for naught!" They began to cheer and celebrate.

Until, at length, the raven continued: "Yes, Smaug is dead but many are gathering besides the birds. Many are eager for the spoils that he has left behind. Already a host of elves march toward you and the men of Esgaroth seek to find amends in your treasure, whether you are alive or dead."

Thorin, to say the least, was neither amused nor pleased.


	25. Chapter 25

"This is the Arkenstone of Thrain," said Bilbo, "the Heart of the Mountain; and it is also the heart of Thorin. He values it above a river of gold. I give it to you. It will aid you in your bargaining."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVI: A Thief in the Night

* * *

Bilbo was scared near witless of what he had just done, yet he felt he had done the right thing. Even if it cost him the entirety of his share of the gold and brought the wrath of Thorin upon his head; it had been the right thing to do, particularly if the Elf King's, Gandalf's, and Bard's reactions were anything to go on. If nothing else, it would potentially soften the edges of the confrontation he was sure was only a dawn away.

So it was that he returned to the gates and woke Bombur from his sleep. For his part, Bilbo was hard pressed to sleep now that his watch, such as it was, was done, much less listen to the thanks of a dwarf after what he had just done, the deed that they would no doubt see as a betrayal in the morning. In the end, the anxiety and excitement of the night caught up to him and Bilbo grew weary.

And so, with the thrill of the night having taken its toll, he curled up in his corner and eventually fell asleep. His deeds would soon enough come to light. Until then, he was content to dream of eggs and bacon until the morning light woke him.


	26. Chapter 26

"So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies … Upon one side were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVII: The Clouds Burst

* * *

Shortly after the birds had finished singing, Harriet noticed it; there was change upon the wind. Something was stirring and Beorn had become agitated. She did not know the exact reason but she felt it, all of the animals felt it.

Something was not quite right.

Beorn was preparing for something and she wanted to know what it was.

"You are leaving," she said told him bluntly.

"The foul creatures of the Wild are moving. They are massing, preparing for something nasty."

Harriet frowned slightly. "Should I be worried?"

"They do not come this way," said he. Then, "no, whatever their foul plans I shall go to meet them!"

Harriet's frown became more pronounced. Should she go with him? Was she ready to go off facing danger head on, again? So soon after she had started to come to terms with her losses? Would Beorn alone be able to handle such large numbers?

Would she sacrifice her latest 'us'?

In the end, honor, and gratitude toward her host, and a healthy dose of her saving people thing, won out. "I will go with you. There is some aid I might give you."

It was Beorn's turn to frown. "Little birdies do not need to go to war, for war I bring against these foul creatures of the world."

"I am not always so little and I have my own ways of defending myself."

"Ha! You cannot even wield an ax!" And it was true, she had tried and failed miserably, to her host's endless pleasure.

In answer, Harriet reached into her ever present satchel, summoned her wand, and sent a silent _reducto_ at a stump of wood, reducing it to small bits and pieces.

For a time, Beorn was speechless.


	27. Chapter 27

"In that last hour Beorn himself appeared – no one knew how or from where. He came … in bear's shape; and he seemed to have grown almost to giant-size in his wrath."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVIII: The Return Journey

* * *

If anything, Beorn had underestimated how much war making was afoot. There were _thousands_ gathered, from the southern spur of the mountain to the ruined city in the east, covering a desolate ground between the mountain and the forest to the west. As far as the eye could see, battle was engaged.

In five words or less, it was: terrible, frightening, bloody, and desperate.

From her vantage in the tree near the edges of the Dark Wood, she could see bats and Eagles in the sky, nasty creatures and ugly wolves charging upon the ground, streaming over the mountain, and what appeared to be men and dwarves, and the pointy eared creatures she had learned were called elves, out numbered but still meeting the dark creature's attacks head on in the center and to the east.

Something in Harriet broke at the sight; something told her this was wrong, this massive gathering of dark creatures, this massive loss of life wasn't _natural_ and so she made her decision: she would aid the alliance of men and dwarves, of elves and eagles, of Beorn and the animals caught in between.

She would _fight_.

In her anger, determination, preparations, and flight toward Beorn's side, she failed to notice that something new inside of her that stirred at the recognition of the unnaturalness before her.


	28. Chapter 28

AN: I find writing battle scenes rather hard. Personally, I have a rather active imagination, so I enjoy having the wiggle room to imagine the conflict as I see fit in my minds eye. Yet, in writing a battle scene, it's generally expected to paint the picture rather clearly. Challenge not accepted, at least not here...

Thank you for all of your follows, favorites, and reviews!

* * *

"The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins from his path like straws and feathers."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVIII: The Return Journey

* * *

There was no shortage of targets.

One moment she was a bird, observing the battle from on high, higher than the Eagles and the bats.

Next, she was diving toward Beorn, breaking, then dropping, dropping to Beorn's side, wand in hand. Then she was whirling here, then there, liberally sending silent curses and hexes at any enemy that presented itself.

 _Reducto_. _Alarte Ascendare_. _Bombarda_. _Reducto_. _Orbis_.

Chain, after chain left her wand until the rhythm of battle sucked her back into the hyper awareness she had cultivated during that first war she had fought in her home reality (for this, she now knew, was not home). Years of skills honed living on the edge of war took over and she fought without breaking to consider the destruction she was causing.

 _Entomorphis_. _Bombarda_. _Colloshoo_. _Confringo_. _Expulso_. _Reducto_.

As time passed, another wand began singing to her, until, at some point she began using two wands, one in each hand, one more destructive than the other, singing with the thrill of battle.

 _Expulso_. _Incendio! Bombarda! SECTUMSEMPRA!_

Harriet was too engrossed in navigating the growing buttress of dead around her and generally creating a sweeping swath of death to notice.


	29. Chapter 29

"Then Beorn stopped and lifted Thorin, who had fallen pierced with spears, and bore him out of the fray."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVIII: The Return Journey

* * *

Suddenly Beorn was gone, disappeared into the fray, fixated on something out of her periphery.

The enemy pressed. The bodies surrounding her continued to build, creating a veritable wall between her and the enemies pressing from the north, east, and south, a wall that they near had to climb over to reach her. The path west was similarly littered with those casualties that fell to Beorn's great claws and teeth, albeit in a less organized fashion.

Without Beorn to guard and keep that path clear, Harriet was left with no choice but to change and take flight then and there, surprising her enemies enough to allow her to clear their heads well before they could think to sight in on her with their cruel, likely poisoned arrows.

She climbed, then dove, then climbed and dove again, pecking out eyes, clawing at grotesque faces, and swatting those birds that were not the Eagles or providing aid to the great birds out of the sky.

'There!'

Beorn was once more enjoined in battle with their ugly foes and once more she landed smoothly by his side, tiring but fighting with renewed vigor all the same, wands a blur of motion in her hands. If Beorn was the only 'us' that remained to her, she would remain determined to keep at his side for as long as she could.

And so the battle continued and her enemies continued to fall and she wondered how differently the battle could have gone if she and Beorn had not joined in when they had.


	30. Chapter 30

"Swiftly he returned and his wrath was redoubled, so that nothing could withstand him, and no weapon seemed to bite upon him."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVIII: The Return Journey

* * *

Beorn, enraged further by some event Harriet had missed, scattered the bodyguard of the apparent leader and pulled the creature from his mount, crushing him (she was relatively certain it was a him) beneath his paws, then ripped flesh from flesh with his great maw.

The effect was immediate. What remained of the alliance of ugly and foul creatures began to flee in all directions, disorganized and leaderless. The alliance of men and dwarves and elves and eagles pushed their advantage, following them closely, driving many of them into the river to the east and the marshes to the west and south.

Victory was assured long before the fall of night and again Harriet wondered what impact her presence had upon the great battle. She wondered, too, how much longer they would fight, if the enemy would reorganize and try again.

For now, the valley bled. The battle that broke the prior night's fast was done but the aftermath was like an assault upon the senses, one that reached deep into the core of every being present enough to do more than sit or lay in their own blood.

Suddenly, tired but assured of their victory, Harriet's senses became overwhelmed with something, a sense of deeper accomplishment, and Harriet reeled. Even as the screaming sounds of battle engaged decreased, the moans of the wounded increased and Harriet _felt it all_ and more and as the adrenaline of battle gradually left her system, she could not keep herself from becoming violently ill and _aware_ of a wrongness not quite set right.

Beorn, busy as he was ensuring those that fled did not get far, was not there to support her when the pain and sickness became too much and she fell.

As engaged in the process of giving voice to their own grief, treating the wounded, recovering the dead, and burning goblin, warg, and orc bodies, no one realized when a hawk eventually took flight into the night save one Gandalf the Grey, who, in his own way, sensed how deep her grief ran.

When things calmed, he would seek her out. Until then, there was much to do, such as seeing to Thorin's injuries. Fili and Kili were accounted for, and while not well, they would survive.


	31. Epilogue

"The elf-host was on the march; and if it was sadly lessened, yet many were glad, for now the northern world would be merrier for many a long day. The dragon was dead, and the goblins overthrown, and their hearts looked forward after winter to a spring of joy."

-The Hobbit, chapter XVIII: The Return Journey

* * *

Gandalf and Bilbo rode behind the Elvenking. Beside them strode Beorn, once again in man's shape, laughing and singing in a loud voice upon the road up to the borders of Mirkwood.

At the borders they parted ways with the elves and Bilbo was sad for it. Alas, they were taking the northern route alongside the outside of the forest, into the waste that lay between it and the beginning of the Grey Mountains.

Beorn would follow them much of the way, so if he felt safer all around, well, he didn't think it proper to mention as much.

Still, he did wonder, sometimes aloud but generally only to himself, what Beorn was looking for, when he looked up, searching the skies.

When asked, he would only smile sadly, and say that he was looking "for a lost birdy. One day, I hope she will find her way home."

Gandalf, smoking his pipe, only added: "one day, my friend, one day."

And that, was that.

* * *

AN 1: *cough* I did mention at the beginning it was an 'unfinished tale' right? Right. *cough*

AN 2: Well, so begins the tale of Harriet's travels that eventually lead to her situation in AUD. I am working on another short, roughly a series of loosely connected one shots, that pick up further down the line. We'll see where it gets to and how long it takes to get it out. It most likely won't be Hobbit or LotR related but I'm leaving the possibility open.

Thanks for reading!


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